The family of Thadeous Machawira has castigated the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) for allegedly failing to help the late administrator, who died last week.
Machawira, who is the founding ZIFA Eastern Region Administrator, and served the association for two decades, died after a long battle with an undisclosed illness spanning over two months.
ZIFA reportedly neglected him during his time of need leaving his family to cover his medical bills.
Family spokesperson and son, Tichaona told NewZimbabwe.com that ZIFA contributed just ZW$$120 000 towards his medical bills and another ZW$300,000 towards funeral expenses. Tichaona said:
Assistance during his illness was ZW$160,000 and, by that time, it was equivalent to around US$120.
They would just say they don’t have money, the region is constrained etc when we called them.
Surprisingly, soon after his demise, ZIFA issued a statement claiming he was one of them, but in times of need, they were nowhere to be seen.
… and (when he died) the same region which claimed to be penniless called asking what we needed for the funeral and they sent ZW$300 000.
So far, there are no commitments to assisting the family left behind and no talk of his legacy yet.
However, Eastern Region Vice Chairman Wisdom Simba claimed that ZIFA assisted Machawira in various ways. He said:
As a region, we have been assisting Machawira in so many ways.
We took care of some of his medical expenses and, before his death, we paid for all the tests.
We also contributed quite a substantive amount which went towards funeral costs.
As for the surviving spouse, if resources permit, we will assist whenever we can.